NEW YORK — Firefighters responded to a brush fire in Brooklyn’s Prospect Park on Friday evening.
According to the fire department, a passerby walking through the park just before 7 p.m. on Friday called 911 to report smoke.
By 8 p.m., the FDNY said the fire had grown to two alarms and spread to about 5 acres. FDNY Brooklyn Borough Commander Joe Duggan said the fire occurred in an “extremely inaccessible,” hilly area with dense brush.
It took about 120 firefighters to bring the blaze under control, FDNY officials said, and firefighters will remain on scene overnight to ensure the blaze does not flare up again.
‘There are some warmer places. If the wind picks up there might be a spark or something, but we’re leaving fire departments here for the purpose of mitigating any small fires. It’s very wet. We have a lot of water up there now, so we don’t think there’s any threat of future fires up there tonight,” FDNY Commissioner Robert Tucker said.
It is unclear how the fire started.
“Daylight will help us determine the cause and origin of this fire,” Tucker said.
FDNY officials say no civilian structures were threatened by the fire at any time. No injuries have been reported.
Crews were also called to another brush fire near the Major Deegan Expressway in the Highbridge section of the Bronx. Further details about that fire have not yet been released.
New York City under drought watch
New York City is under drought watchalong with other parts of the state, due to the region’s weeks-long dry spell. Less than two inches of rain has fallen in Central Park since September, and October was the city’s driest month on record.
A A Red Flag warning was also issued for the area on Fridaymeaning the danger of fire is very high due to a combination of high winds and parched earth. The warning has been extended until 6 p.m. Saturday.
“We encourage New Yorkers not to, you know, throw cigarette butts on the ground. Make sure, like the passerby did today, to report any fire you see. You are not allowed to grill in the parks,” said Zachary Iscol, commissioner of the New York City Office of Emergency Management.
“We were extremely lucky with the passerby who saw something, but also did something. They notified the FDNY and there was a quick response,” said Mayor Eric Adams.
After six wildfires on Staten Island in the past two weeks, Borough President Vito Fossella and FDNY officials plan to urge locals to take preventative measures to protect their homes.
“We are working with the state Department of Environmental Conservation to provide homeowners who live in an area that may be very sensitive or prone to wildfires the opportunity to obtain a permit and reduce some of the Phragmites with the goal of reducing their protect homes and the people who do them.” live in those houses,” Fossella said.
Firefighters in New Jersey fought a series of forest fires in recent daysincluded one that started early Friday morning in the Palisades. That fire sent clouds of smoke across the Hudson River into parts of upper Manhattan and the Bronx.
and Alecia Reid contributed to this report.
